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Central Maine Medical Center

Secure Our Future

Central Maine Healthcare Expands Mission in Agreement with Prime Healthcare Foundation

Read our press release with Prime Healthcare Foundation.


Read a letter to our patients.

Read our public information session fact sheet.


Therapy Specialty Programs

Orthopedic/Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation: Therapists use a range of treatment approaches to help regain function.  Services include therapeutic exercise, manual therapy and customized home programming instruction for patients recovering from:

Sprains and strains
Tendonitis
Bursitis
Amputation
Arthritis
Headache
Temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction

Back and Spine Care: Physical therapists with specialized training will guide the patient’s active recovery and help them acquire skills for self-management of their spinal conditions:

  • Manual skills for symptom relief
  • Therapeutic exercise instruction addressing posture, range of motion, flexibility, strength and coordination issues
  • Functional restoration and conditioning programming that assists to resume activities of daily living, work activities or recreation
  • Creating a plan for life at home, to optimize recovery and prevent aggravation of the spine problem

Post Surgical Rehab – Continuing Rehab after Hospitalization: Our therapists provide outpatient rehab services to patients after hospital discharge. We support patients following:

Total joint replacement
Surgery for sports injuries
Spine surgery
Trauma rehabilitation
Hand/upper extremity surgery
Reconstructive surgery

CMTS therapists communicate closely with the patient’s surgeon to support an optimal outcome for the patient.

Balance and Vestibular Program: This program seeks to decrease dizziness and improve balance for those who feel unsteady or experience dizziness, positional vertigo, lightheadedness or spinning, or may have experienced a fall.

Work Injuries: CMTS therapists offer services to support the injured worker, which include:

  • Acute injury treatment focused on active, timely recovery
  • Ergonomic review/work risk analysis
  • Education and training to prevent re-injury
  • Work conditioning, restoring abilities to perform work

Hand and Upper Extremity Therapy: CMTS therapists support a comprehensive range of hand and upper extremity conditions including:

Repetitive motion disorders
Post fracture of hand, wrist/upper extremity
Sports injury of hand, wrist/upper extremity
Sprains and strains
Burns
Trauma rehabilitation
Hand/upper extremity surgery
Reconstructive surgery

Treatment services include:

Splinting
Pain management
Joint protection
Post surgical care
Therapeutic exercise to regain range of motion and strength
Work simulation/job task analysis
Scar management
Desensitization
Customized adaptive equipment to support activities of daily living

Lymphedema Management: Lymphedema is the abnormal accumulation of lymphatic fluid under the surface of the skin, causing swelling in the limbs. We focus on:

Controlling or reducing lymphedema symptoms
Decreasing pain
Increasing independence in self-care
Improving mobility
Long term self-management

Treatment consists of:

Lymphatic massage
Compression bandaging
Exercise
Skin care training
Compression garment fitting

Pelvic Floor Rehab – Bladder Control–Incontinence Management: Physical therapists with specialized training provide treatment and training support to women, men and children:

Urinary and fecal incontinence
Urinary urgency
Urinary frequency
Constipation
Overactive bladder
Pelvic pain: difficulty with sitting, pain with intercourse and pain of the hip, lower back and lower abdomen
Pregnancy/postpartum incontinence/pain
Pelvic organ prolapse

Specific treatment and training is identified for the individual patient:

Bowel and bladder training
Biofeedback
Soft tissue mobilization
Pelvic floor muscle training
Planning and support for self-management at home

Swallowing Therapy: Speech pathologists partner with primary care providers to assess swallowing functioning and develop a treatment plan:

  • Exercises to improve muscle control and strength
  • Compensatory strategy training to compensate for deficits
  • Facial, oral and pharyngeal exercise in conjunction with electrical stimulation
  • Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (VitalStim) to retrain swallow
  • Patient training regarding diet consistency strategies to reduce health risks
  • Food preparation instruction

The goal of swallow/dysphagia therapy is to reduce the risk of aspiration and improve swallowing function, allowing the patient to consume food and liquid in a variety of consistencies. Patients may benefit if they have experienced:

Stroke
Traumatic brain injury
Head and neck cancer
Neurological diseases
Respiratory diseases
Facial paralysis
Post polio syndrome

Adult Speech/Language Therapy: Speech language pathologists evaluate and treat adult speech and language disorders, including:

Voice: Vocal changes, vocal cord dysfunction and difficulty with vocal quality and loudness. The goal of therapy is to increase optimal vocal pitch, appropriate loudness, resonance, optimizing breathing style, pacing for speech production and vocal hygiene programming.

Fluency: The goal is to decrease or eliminate fluency difficulties, excessive upper body/ laryngeal tension and provide fluency-enhancing strategies.

Dysarthria and Apraxia: The goal of therapy is to develop functional speech strategies and/or determine if speech-based therapy tools would improve communication, which may include technical augmentative communication devices or speech generating devices. Therapy supports communication skills for home, work and community environments.

Pediatric Speech/Language Therapy: Speech therapists work closely with parents, pediatricians and CDS to evaluate and treat all aspects of early communication skills, including comprehension of spoken language, verbal expression, pragmatics/social language skills, articulation/sound production skills, fluency and voice. The goal is to help children attain the communication skills required in education and social settings.

Osteoporosis Program: Therapists design safe exercise and activity programs to improve an individual’s strength, balance and overall function. A customized home program is designed to help decrease bone loss and lower the risk of falls or fractures.

Neurological Rehabilitation: Our team of physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists work closely with inpatient rehab facilities to support a smooth transition to the outpatient phase of care. Therapy is focused on supporting the patient’s continued effort to regain function:

Brain injury
Post-concussive syndrome
Stroke
Parkinson’s disease
Multiple sclerosis
Spinal cord injury
Other neurological conditions

Rehab programming focuses on enhancing challenging areas of function:

Self-care
Mobility
Cognition
Balance
Communication
Swallowing

You may require a combination of multiple therapies to find relief and restore abilities. Your therapeutic care plan will outline what is needed and evolve to meet your changing needs.

Planned Giving

Planned giving is a way to contribute to Central Maine Medical Center, Bridgton Hospital or Rumford Hospital through charitable donations made as part of your financial or estate planning. These gifts allow you to support our mission in a meaningful way, while also potentially providing financial benefits to you and your loved ones.

Please let us know if you have already included Central Maine Healthcare in your estate planning, or if you are considering doing so. Thank you.
Planned Giving Intention Form

Planned gifts can come in many forms, including:

Retirement Plans: You can designate a Central Maine Healthcare hospital as a beneficiary of your 401(k), IRA, or other retirement accounts, which may provide tax benefits to you or your estate.

Bequests: A gift made through your will or living trust. You can designate a specific amount or percentage of your estate to support one of our hospitals.

Charitable Gift Annuities: In exchange for a donation, you receive fixed, regular payments for life, and the remaining gift goes to one of our hospitals after your passing.

Charitable Remainder Trusts: These allow you to transfer assets into a trust, receive income during your lifetime, and designate the remainder to benefit one of our hospitals.

Life Insurance: By naming [Hospital Name] as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, you can make a significant future gift while maintaining your premiums during your lifetime.


How to Start Your Planned Giving Journey

Consult with Your Financial Advisor
We recommend working with your financial advisor to determine the best type of planned gift for your financial situation and goals.

Contact Our Office of Philanthropy
We can provide resources, including sample bequest language, and connect you with legal and financial professionals if needed.

Make Your Gift
Once you’ve decided how you’d like to give, we will work with you to ensure that your gift is set up in a way that fulfills your wishes and benefits the hospital.For more information on planned giving, including guidance on how to shape your bequest language, please reach out to:

Lisa LaVallee
Phone: (207) 795-2685
Email: giving@cmhc.org

Together, we can help you make a meaningful difference.

CMMC Connect

Regional Referral & Transfer Center 

This service is for health professionals only, this is not a public service. If you are looking to connect to the hospital, please call (207) 795-0111.

CMMC Connect is available 24 hours a day, every day, to provide one-call access to the specialists and resources available at Central Maine Medical Center.

One phone call to CMMC Connect puts you in touch with providers, nurses and ancillary service providers. Whether you are seeking a consultation, office follow up or transferring a patient for specialty care, CMMC Connect simplifies the process assuring a better experience for you and your patients.

When a referring provider calls to transfer a patient, CMMC Connect will handle the call, contacting an accepting provider and conferencing the two providers together. With all parties on the phone, medical information will be shared, bed placement options discussed, and transport details confirmed.

The primary goal of the system is to make clear all patient transfer arrangements with a single call from the provider, saving valuable time and enhancing and expediting system wide communications and ultimately benefiting patient safety and continuity of care.

We appreciate our relationship with you and look forward to providing excellent and quality care for you patients. We welcome your feedback. Please feel free to contact CMMC Connect or manager at any time.

Call 207-795-7525 to contact CMMC Connect.

Referral Guide

Our Nurses and Referral Specialists are waiting to take your call.

Please provide us with the following information, to expedite your call:

  • Your name and call back number
  • Referring provider’s name
  • Patient’s name
  • Patient’s location
  • Patient’s diagnosis/ chief complaint / specialty (services needed)
  • Do you need to transfer a patient, or is it just a consultation?

We make every attempt to answer every call immediately. We sincerely apologize if you must leave a voice message. Please be assured we will return your call as quickly as possible (usually within 5 minutes).

Other information that will help us to help you: 

  • Does this patient have any precautions such as infectious disease etc.?
  • Is this patient in the Emergency Department or in-patient unit?
  • Does this patient need further Emergency Department evaluation/treatment?
  • Does this patient need an Intensive Care Unit?
  • Is this patient intubated?
  • How should the patient be transported (air, ground ambulance, private vehicle)?
  • Will you arrange transportation, or would you like us to assist you?
  • How much does this patient weigh (for air transport only)?

We have provided a form to save you valuable time. You may have someone call with the pertinent information, while you continue caring for your patients. Please remain close by, and we will connect you with the appropriate service as quickly as possible.

Transfer Center Services

Referral & Transfer Assistance

CMMC Connect offers 27/7 referral and transfer assistance.

We will facilitate your calls:

  • Assist you in obtaining urgent provider consultation, regarding your patients
  • Facilitate your communications with our providers to determine patient needs
  • Assist you in obtaining treatment assistance and/or admission for patients
  • Facilitate communication with appropriate provider services, to care for your patient

We will expedite provider-to-provider consultation and streamline the transfer process:

  • Expedite provider-to-provider consultation
  • Determine resource availability & appropriate placement for your patient
  • Assist with transportation arrangements
  • Facilitate transfer of clinical documentation to ensure continuity of care

We will facilitate transfer planning, for you and your team members:

  • Facilitate air transport as needed*
  • Make arrangements for bed assignments
  • Keep you and your team members updated, regarding arrangements for your patient
  • Provide guidance for your team members in transfer preparations as needed
  • Provide your team members with contact information to provide nursing report
  • Patient will be evaluated to ensure they meet admission criteria. We can help you determine appropriate transfers.

*Our Lifeflight transport team flies with experienced nurses and paramedics, who are specially trained in critical care and altitude physiology. Lifeflight is committed to providing the safest and highest quality care possible to their patients. During times of inclement weather, critical care ground transport is utilized with the same experienced team.

Contact CMMC Connect at 207-795-7525.

Plastic and Reconstructive Services

Aesthetic Enhancements

The goal of all aesthetic enhancements is to improve the skin and facial appearance. However, there are many different types and choosing the right enhancements for you can be a confusing process.

Options to Look and Feel Your Best

Botox® is a protein that is injected to facial areas with deep lines to relax or paralyze the muscle and smooth wrinkles. The injections are used with a very fine needle, and do not require anesthesia. The Botox® treatment lasts three to six months depending on the individual.

Fillers are injectables used to restore volume loss. Central Maine Healthcare offers many different types for different areas of the face.

  • Juvéderm®: an injectable filler containing hyaluronic acid, which is a complex sugar naturally occurring in the body that decreases with age. It improves the skin’s elasticity and may be used to improve deep skin folds and to enhance lips. Treatments usually last six months to a year, depending upon the individual.
  • Voluma® XC: the first and only FDA-approved injectable gel that can instantly add volume to your cheek area. Its effects can last up to two years with optimal treatment.
  • Kybella®: the first and only FDA-approved “double chin” treatment. This filler is an injection of deoxycholic acid, which can improve the appearance and profile of moderate to severe fat under the chin.

Traditional Skincare: These services are likely the ones you’re most familiar with and can sometimes be found in spas. Central Maine Healthcare provides superior results over spas because of our medical grade equipment and product, as well as our highly trained team members.

  • Microdermabrasion: finely crushed diamonds expertly remove dead skin on the surface of the face. This procedure is ideal for fine lines, wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, acne, scarring and overall exfoliation. It requires no down-time.
  • Skin Peels: a solution to the face, neck or hands for exfoliations. Also known as chemical peels, these treatments are a several-step process that may require several visits. The goal is to make the skin appear smoother and younger by removing a variety of imperfections such as age spots, acne, etc.
  • Facials: designed specifically for your skin type and needs, we offer facials in varying strengths from gentle to highly corrective. A consultation with your esthetician will allow you to decide what strength is right for you.

Central Maine Healthcare also offers Obagi® skin care products (a full line of scientifically formulated, medical grade skincare products) and Jane Iredale Skin Care Makeup® (made with quality formulas that contribute to skincare health) so you can optimize your results.

Asclera®: This injection is used to treat or remove spider and reticular veins and significantly lessen their appearance.

Latisse®: A prescription product used for hypotrichosis (loss or reduction of hair) of the eye. A liquid called Latisse® is applied to the lash line daily at home to thicken, darken and lengthen eyelashes.

Cosmetic Procedures: Our elective cosmetic options include surgery on all parts of the body for both men and women. From face lifts to breast augmentation to tummy tucks to liposuction, Central Maine Healthcare’s board-certified plastic surgeons can help you feel and look your best. Please note that these procedures are major surgeries and require significant downtime. Our care coordinator, surgeon and other team members will advise you on pre and post-operative care.

Laser Services: Our state-of-the-art lasers offer a completely non-invasive, yet extremely effective way to improve your skin. Specialties include laser hair removal, tattoo removal, skin tightening and resurfacing, treatment for pigmentation and sunspots, as well as scar revision. Most of these treatments require little to no downtime, and you can return to work immediately after. They are typically most effective when completed as a series of treatments over time.

Reconstructive surgery can restore appearance and function after injury or illness. For example, people recovering from breast cancer often turn to us for breast and nipple reconstruction, while those who’ve undergone bariatric surgery or other forms of major weight loss often seek us out for excess skin removal. Many patients seeking reconstructive surgery are referred to us from inside the Central Maine Healthcare system. We work collaboratively with other providers for the best possible outcome.

Skin cancer screenings: If you cannot get an appointment at your dermatologist’s office due to long wait times or other difficulties, visit us at our Central Maine Medical Center or Bridgton Hospital locations for a skin health evaluation.

Cosmetic Procedures

The goal of cosmetic surgery is different for everyone. For some, the goal is to restore their appearance after aging, stress, childbirth or genetics have taken their toll. For others, the goal is maintenance and prevention. And for others still, the goal is to augment their natural appearance so that they feel more at home in their bodies.

No matter your reason, cosmetic surgery is a highly personal choice that can require significant investment. Central Maine Healthcare understands that and takes your satisfaction very seriously. During your visit, our double-board certified surgeon will take the time to listen, walk through all of your options and answer any questions so you can make the right choice for you. To book your consultation, call 207-795-6543.

We offer surgeries that address every physical concern, from head-to-toe*:

Face
Eyelid Lift
Brow Lift
Face Lift
Forehead Lift

Neck Lift
Cheek Augmentation
Chin Augmentation
Ear Pinning**

Earlobe Repair/Reduction**
Cosmetic Mole Excision**
Breast
Augmentation (increases the fullness and projection of the breasts)
Lift (removes excess skin and tightens the breasts)
Reduction (removes excess skin and breast tissue, male and female)
Neck Lift
Cheek Augmentation
Chin Augmentation
Ear Pinning**

Earlobe Repair/Reduction**
Cosmetic Mole Excision**
Body
Tummy tuck (removes excess fat and skin and may also tighten abdominal muscles)
Lower body lifts (abdomen, buttocks, groin and outer thighs)

Medial thigh lift (inner, mid and outer thigh)
Upper arm lift
Liposuction

We want to help you to look and feel your best. If you have any questions or are interested in a procedure not listed on this page, call 207-795-6543.

*Please note that while consultations take place at either our Central Maine Medical Center or Bridgton Hospital location, all procedures (except those marked **) are considered major surgery and will be performed at Central Maine Medical Center. 

Laser Services

Lasers are one of the most exciting skincare developments in recent years and are completely non-invasive; meaning no tool ever touches your skin. And yet, they provide such effective results for wrinkles, skin tightness, reduction, age spots, acne and rosacea and other issues that they can prevent or delay the need for stronger interventions and save you thousands on ineffectual products and monthly waxing. Central Maine Healthcare loves lasers for their versatility and efficiency — and you will, too.  Kate, our certified laser technician, has years of experience providing safe, results-driven treatments to clients of all ages, ethnicities and skin types.

Which Laser is Right for You?

Titan™
Tightens and rejuvenates skin:  The Titan can improve the laxity of your skin, making it look tighter, firmer and younger.
Best Candidate: those with minimal fat and thinner skin who are not ready for surgery.
During: you may feel a brief heating sensation.
After: you may experience some redness and mild swelling.
Best results: 1-3 treatments at 1-3 month intervals.

Intense Pulsed Light (Limelight for IPL)
Treats age/brown spots, broken capillaries and skin redness:  IPL can help you achieve a clearer, more even skin tone.
Best Candidate: those with aging skin and sun damage.
During: you may feel a mild pinching or stinging sensation.
After: your brown spots may darken before falling off, and you may experience some redness and mild swelling.
Best results: 1-3 treatments every 4-6 weeks.

Genesis
Improves fine lines and acne scarring:  Genesis can retexturize your skin.
Best Candidate: those with moderately aging skin and/or acne scarring.
During: you may feel a gentle warming sensation.
After: you may experience slight redness, though many people experience no side effects at all.
Best results: 4-6 treatments every 1-2 weeks.

Prowave™
Hair reduction for lighter skin tones and large areas:  Prowave™can eliminate the need to shave or wax for years.
Best Candidate: those with lighter skin and darker body hair.
During: you may feel a mild pinching and stinging sensation.
After: you may experience slight redness and localized swelling.
Best results: 6-8 treatments every 6-8 weeks.

Lumenis Diode
Hair reduction for all skin tones and small areas; IPL:  Lumenis Diode can eliminate the need to shave or wax for years and can also perform IPL photofacials.
Best Candidate: all skin types with no white or gray hair.
During: you may feel a snap like an elastic band.
After: you may experience minor redness and swelling.
Best results: 8-12 treatments every 6-8 weeks for hair reduction; 1-3 treatments every 4-6 apart for IPL.

Palomar 1540
Skin rejuvenation and non-ablative resurfacing:  Palomar 1540 can resurface your skin by heating up the underlying tissue, so you produce new collagen.
Best Candidate: all skin types.
During: you may need numbing prior to treatment; painful.
After: you may experience minor swelling, redness and temporary skin color change.
Best results: 1-2 treatments a year.

Q-Switched Nd:YAG
Tattoo removal: This laser can remove both black and dark colored ink.
Best Candidate: all skin types.
During: you may feel a snap like an elastic band.
After: you may experience redness and swelling.
Best results: 5-12 treatments at 6-8 intervals.

Reconstructive Surgery: Reconstructive and restorative surgeries are performed on patients with abnormal body form or function — often time caused by cancer, congenital defects, trauma, infection or developmental issues. At Central Maine Healthcare, our experienced, board-certified plastic surgeon will work with you in an intimate and comfortable setting to make sure you feel at ease asking questions. We make sure every appointment feels friendly, supportive and accessible, whether your surgery is big or small.

Helping You Feel Whole

Breast and Nipple Reconstruction: Following a mastectomy after breast cancer a breast reconstruction can improve your self-confidence and help to ease your cancer recovery, so that you can look and feel like yourself again.

Breast Reduction to Improve Comfort: large breasts can cause severe back pain and other physical problems. A reduction can ease your pain, and make you feel more comfortable in day-to-day life.

Body Contouring after major weight loss: Losing a substantial amount of weight often results in excess skin. We can skillfully remove this skin, taking great care to hide and minimize scarring while improving your self-esteem and quality of life.

Head and Neck Reconstruction Post-Trauma: After a major traumatic event, reconstructing the head and neck can not only improve physical appearance but also restore functionality to eyes, nose, mouth and other areas.

Skin Lesion/Cyst Removal: Skin lesions and cysts are very common and usually minor. However, that doesn’t make them any more fun to have around. Dr. Foley can remove your lesion or cyst with precision and minimal scarring.

Scar Revision: Scars can be unsightly, as well as painful reminders of a difficult time. Dr. Foley can perform a surgery to “revise” or minimize the appearance of the scar so that it is less noticeable and blends in with the surrounding skin tone and texture.

To make your appointment, call 207-795-6543.

Neurology Conditions We Treat

Symptoms of neurological disorders aren’t easy to navigate – neck pain, dizziness, blurred vision, tremors, and dozens more. They often resemble the symptoms of too many other ailments and can be hard to self-diagnose.

Enter the board-certified neuroscience team at Central Maine Healthcare, who are trained to diagnose and treat the full range of diseases linked to the brain, spine, muscles and nerves. By coupling cutting-edge technology with their compassionate care, our neurology team will take you in hand, identify your specific problem and design your personal treatment plan.

Back and Neck Pain

If you’re experiencing ongoing or severe back and neck pain, the neck and spine specialists at Central Maine will diagnose your problem and work with neurologists and other medical staff to find the source of your discomfort and create a treatment plan.

Why Your Back or Neck Hurts: With back-pain, your movements may be limited. You may even have a stiff neck, which makes it difficult to move your head from side to side. Back pain like this could be caused by something as simple as carrying a heavy bag on your shoulder.
Or your back pain may be a result of a more serious disorder like:
Herniated disc: When a disc protrudes in an abnormal way, it creates a hernia.
Spinal degeneration: Like all parts of the body, your spine can deteriorate over time, and you can lose your ability to walk and stand erect easily.
Spinal stenosis: The spaces within your spine can grow narrow, causing pressure on your nerves. Stenosis often is caused by arthritis and usually happens in your lower back or neck.
Chronic back pain: Once you’ve injured your back, if it’s not treated or doesn’t heal correctly you may experience pain over time.

Diagnosing and Treating Back and Neck Pain: Identifying the source of your pain usually starts with an X-ray to rule out injuries to bones or muscles. Your doctor also may order at CT or MRI scan to pinpoint the problem. You may also undergo an EMG (which is done via fine needles inserted into the muscles) to see whether certain nerves are working properly. A blood test is often added to check for inflammation or an infection. The treatment, of course, depends on the nature of your condition and always is personalized. Many patients respond well to a simple regimen of physical therapy, rest, exercise and medications. However, your individual program might include strength training and aquatic therapy or wearing a foam collar. From there, solutions get more sophisticated:
Baclofen Pump: With this advanced procedure, a small machine is implanted in your chest and delivers pain medication directly to your spinal cord.
Spinal Cord Stimulation Therapy: The stimulation happens in your brain. An electric current blocks your brain’s ability to sense pain in your spinal cord.
Surgery: More serious spine and neck conditions call for surgery, ranging from spinal fusions to vertebrae removal. Many procedures are computer-assisted or performed by robots, giving the surgeon a better view than they’d have in traditional operations, with more accurate results.
Regardless of why you’re feeling back or neck pain, CMH specialists can help get your relief.

Brain and Spinal Tumors

At Central Maine Healthcare, we focus on aggressively treating your tumor as soon as possible. Your treatment plan might include radiation, chemotherapy or surgery, and we will make sure you have the support to follow your personalized treatment.

Dementia

Dementia isn’t just one disease, it’s a group of symptoms that affect your memory, thinking and social abilities. Fortunately, at Central Maine Healthcare, you have some of the country’s best resources at your disposal, working quickly to diagnose dementia.

What Does Dementia Look Like? Dementia is tricky to diagnose because its symptoms can signal a long list of unrelated disorders. Some forms of dementia are progressive, like Alzheimer’s disease or Lewy Body dementia. But some types of dementia can be reversed. If it’s caused by an endocrine problem, such as a low-functioning thyroid or by dehydration or certain infections, the dementia stops when those conditions are addressed.

For most dementia, however, there is no cure — but modern treatments can treat the symptoms and slow the disease’s progression. Symptoms generally fall into two categories: cognitive and psychological.

Cognitive symptoms include:

  • Memory loss
  • Difficulty communicating
  • Planning or organizing
  • Confusion

Psychological symptoms include:

  • Personality changes
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Paranoia
  • Inappropriate behavior

How We Diagnose Your Dementia: Finding the reason for your dementia is a process. It involves a variety of cognitive and psychological tests. Your neurologist will work to reach an accurate diagnosis and design a treatment plan. In order to pinpoint your type of dementia, doctors will first look at your risk factors for dementia: your thorough health history, including your age and family illnesses. Then, they’ll look for signs of depression, diabetes, Down syndrome, sleep apnea, smoking or heavy alcohol use — all of which could influence dementia.

Our doctors will also test your memory, your language skills, your visual perception, and your ability to focus, reason and solve problems. They’re also likely to run CT and MRI scans to check for signs of stroke, tumors or bleeding in your brain. A PET scan can document your brain activity and tell doctors if the protein associated with Alzheimer’s (called amyloid) is present.

What We’ll Do for Your Dementia: Once we know exactly why you’re exhibiting symptoms, our physicians work on managing them. Almost always, they will prescribe medications to ease your symptoms. You’ll likely take a med such as Aricept — a cholinesterase inhibitor — that will boost your levels of the brain chemical that helps restore your memory and judgement skills. These medicines are common in treating Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lewy Body.

Other medicines regulate additional brain chemicals that affect your depression, ability to learn, and sleep. Beyond medications, we provide help that can improve your everyday life and independence:

Occupational therapy: Our therapists will teach you coping strategies, which can help you perform simple tasks such as laundry and making coffee. Their aim is to prevent falls and other accidents and prepare you for progression of the illness.

Modify your environment: Central Maine will do everything possible to make your home safer.  We can help you reduce clutter and noise, hide items such as knives and car keys, and make sure you are visited regularly.

Modify your tasks: We’ll look at everything you do during the day and find ways to make those tasks easier. You’ll have structure and routine in your day, which will help you learn to focus on small successes.

Epilepsy

People with epilepsy can rarely predict when they’re about to have a seizure. The good news is that with Central Maine Healthcare’s help seizures can be controlled. Our highly trained experts successfully treat people with epilepsy every day. Epilepsy can develop at any age. For your own safety, if you or someone in your family has seizures, get help right away.

What Causes Seizures? We know that seizures are triggered by sudden changes in your brain’s electrical activity, but what causes those electrical surges? Seizures often start after a head injury. They might also begin after a stroke or when a tumor develops. During a seizure, nerve cells either over-excite other cells, or stop them from sending the right messages to the rest of the body. Epilepsy is diagnosed when these seizures materialize repeatedly.

When you see a Central Maine neurologist about your seizures, you’ll undergo an EEG (electroencephalogram), which can “see” the electrical activity in your brain and, possibly, predict if you’ll keep having seizures. The EEG might find seizure-causing activity in just one part of your brain, or across the entire organ. We might use a process called “cortical mapping” to measure functions and activity in precise spots.

Our Team Approach to Treating Seizures: Because there are so many approaches to seizure control, the Neurology team at Central Maine will form a multidisciplinary team to treat your epilepsy. We’ll take care of your disorder from every possible angle, and professionals guiding your recovery might include nutritionists, neurologists, surgeons and other specialists.

Medications: This is the most widely used treatment. Anti-seizure drugs succeed in controlling seizures for seven out of 10 patients.

Diet: Research has found that a low carb, “keto” diet can control seizures in some people, so your doctor or nutritionist probably will recommend you cut your carbohydrates and focus on eating whole foods, including healthy fats.

Neuromodulation: Your neurologist might also prescribe a device that sends a small electric current to your nervous system. This electric stimulation, called “neuromodulation,” can prompt your brain to release chemicals that change the way your cells act.

Movement Disorders

About a million people in the U.S. live with Parkinson’s disease, and millions more suffer from other movement disorders. They affect every aspect of your life — your job, socializing, mobility, even relaxing with your family. But treatment for movement disorders has come a long way in the last decade, and Central Maine Healthcare is on the leading-edge of movement disorder treatment.

What Are Movement Disorders? If you don’t have a movement disorder, you’ve seen it in others — their heads and limbs jerk or twist in an unnatural way, it may be difficult to understand their speech, and they may not be able to walk.

Parkinson’s disease is a slowly progressing disorder of the nervous system. People with Parkinson’s may not be diagnosed until years after their first symptoms appear. In addition to tremors, people with Parkinson’s also develop problems with their balance, limbs stiffening and slower movements.

Dystonia isn’t as well-known as Parkinson’s, but more than 300,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed to date. The muscle contractions with dystonia are different from other movement disorders, in that they cause twisting, repetitive movements. Dystonia can affect the whole body or just one limb.

Other movement disorders include:

  • Cervical dystonia, causing twisting contractions of the neck muscles
  • Ataxia, when the parts of the brain that control body movements don’t function correctly
  • Chorea, marked by brief, irregular movements in the face, mouth, trunk and limbs
  • Huntington’s disease, bringing uncontrolled movements, impaired thinking ability and psychiatric disorders
  • Restless leg syndrome, when you have an urge to move your legs at night
  • Tremors, rhythmic shaking of your hands, head and other body parts
  • Wilson’s disease, a rare illness caused by copper build-up in your body, causing neurological problems

Treating Movement Disorders: Your movement disorder may be more easily controlled than you think. Your doctor’s first prescription is likely to be L-Dopa, an amino acid closely related to the brain chemical dopamine and the gold standard for treating Parkinson’s and dystonia, both of which respond to dopamine. Your neurologist at Central Maine also might inject you with Botox®. Botox® temporarily paralyzes muscle activity, making it useful in controlling contractions, especially neck spasms.

Increasingly, surgeons are turning to Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a surgery in which electrodes are implanted in the brain. The electrodes produce electrical charges that regulate your brain’s abnormal impulses, controlled by a pacemaker-like device implanted in your chest. A tiny wire connects the “pacemaker” to the electrodes in your brain. DBS is a revolutionary new procedure whose use will go far beyond treating movement disorders; researchers are studying the possibilities of DBS for stroke recovery and dementia, among other conditions.

Central Maine Healthcare can help you minimize and control your tremors and contractions, so you can return to work and regular daily life.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease. That means your immune system, which is supposed to protect your from “foreign” invaders (bacteria, viruses, even allergens) instead turns traitor and breaks down your immunity. Those invaders get into your body, and the protective covering that surrounds your nerve cells becomes inflamed, destroying the cells’ ability to work correctly. That’s when you start seeing symptoms of MS.

Central Maine’s neurologists bring on the latest research and techniques to treating your symptoms. When your MS is treated early, you can expect a normal life expectancy, symptom-free — but you must take action.

Diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis: MS is one of the most difficult illnesses to diagnose because its symptoms are almost universal. Anyone can get MS, though women are more likely, and while the typical age at the onset is 20 to 40 years old, it can begin at any age. Diagnosis also is tricky because MS symptoms appear in degrees, from mild (numb limbs, for example) to severe cases with paralysis and blindness. Other symptoms include:

  • Blurred or double vision
  • Blindness in one eye
  • Red/green color distortion
  • Muscle weakness in limbs, causing balance and coordination problems
  • Prickling, numbing feelings in arms and legs
  • Pain in limbs
  • Trouble speaking
  • Tremors
  • Dizziness
  • Hearing loss
  • Depression
  • Difficulty concentrating, and problems with memory and judgement

Some symptoms happen briefly and pass, while others persist. People with MS can be symptom free and then suffer a relapse or flare-up, or the disease can be a steady progression. There’s just no such thing as a “normal” case of MS.

There also is no standard test for MS. Your neurologist and other caregivers will test you based on your current symptoms, and those they think you’re likely to develop. They may give you a neurological exam, blood analysis, brain and spine imaging, lumbar puncture test (known as a “spinal tap”). They also may prescribe an MRI scan, because 90 percent of people with MS show changes in their brain or spinal cord, and other tests that measure magnetic fields of your cells and the electrical activity in your muscles.

Treating You for a Speedy Recovery: There’s no cure for MS, but there is recovery from flare-ups, and that’s our goal when we treat MS at Central Maine. We aim to manage your symptoms, and your treatment will reflect your experience. For instance, we might prescribe a corticosteroid medication such as prednisone to reduce the inflammation in your nerves. We often turn to a host of meds that might slow the worsening of the disease, or help block the immune system’s attack on myelin, that protective covering around your nerves.

If your MS is newly diagnosed or especially severe, we might recommend a plasma exchange. This innovative procedure involves removing your plasma, mixing it with a protein solution, then putting it back into your body. Depending on your symptoms, we might also prescribe meds to combat your fatigue, resolve depression or help control your bowel or bladder. We also prescribe Interferon, a drug that can reduce the severity and frequency of your relapses.

A healthy lifestyle is important, too, in keeping MS symptoms under control. You’ll work with a physical therapist on stretching and strengthening exercises, and you’ll learn to use devices that make daily tasks easier. If you’re feeling stiff or experiencing spasms, we’ll teach you muscle relaxation exercises.

For such a wide range of symptoms, our neurologists will collaborate with as many colleagues as necessary to tame them and get you living a normal, productive life. For most MS patients, there’s no reason not to work full-time and resume all the activities they enjoy.

Stroke

There are 7 million stroke survivors in America today. Central Maine Healthcare treats more than 200 stroke patients each year, mostly through our Emergency Department where we can quickly evaluate and treat your condition. Once you’ve had a stroke or heart disease, your risk of stroking escalates.

If you or a family member are at risk for a stroke, we can help you make sure there are no strokes in your future.

Sleep Disorders We Treat

If you’re one of the millions of Americans suffering with sleep problems, we know how frustrating that can be. And the consequences go far beyond feeling tired the next day. Narcolepsy, for instance, is dangerous because people fall asleep in an instant, even while they’re driving. With sleep apnea, your organs are deprived of oxygen and slow down. And chronic insomnia can often bring anxiety or depression and may indicate a more serious underlying medical problem.

The sleep medicine experts at Central Maine Healthcare’s are here to help. Our board-certified pulmonologists and other specialists will get to the bottom of what’s keeping you up, and work with you to find the right treatment, whether that’s medication, a state-of-the-art sleeping device, minimally invasive procedure or another solution. Together, we can improve your sleep and overall health and wellness.

  • Sleep Apnea: When you have sleep apnea, it means your airway is obstructed while you sleep and you’re depriving your brain and other organs of oxygen. Snoring is the clearest symptom, but apnea affects all of your body’s systems; you might feel colder than other people, or your hair might be thinning, you’re tired, or you can’t lose weight. In short, your internal motor isn’t running up to par. Some apnea patients even wake up during the night, gasping for air, which can be terrifying. But rest easy—we can help you control apnea with a variety of treatments, including a CPAP machine.
  • Insomnia: If it’s hard for you to fall asleep, or you wake up during the night and can’t fall asleep again, you have insomnia. That happens to everyone occasionally and can be resolved by changing the parts of your life that affect sleep — your bedtime, or diet and exercise. But when it happens repeatedly, you have chronic insomnia that should be treated. We’ll make sure you don’t have an underlying health problem, then create a personalized program that fits your lifestyle.
  • Narcolepsy: If you’ve been diagnosed with narcolepsy, you probably can’t make firm plans — especially if you have to drive — because you never know when you’ll suddenly fall asleep. We start with specialized testing to confirm the diagnosis, then custom-design a program to get you through your days with energy. We’ll co-create a regular sleep, meal and exercise schedule, and possibly prescribe new medications to help you sleep better at night.
  • Restless Leg Syndrome: We consider this ailment a sleep disorder because it usually happens at night and keeps you from getting enough rest. If you feel an urge to move your legs when you lie down, or if you feel a twitching, “pulling” or strange ache in your legs, you may have restless leg syndrome. We use a number of treatments for this disorder, including medications to boost the dopamine levels in your brain—it’s a chemical that sends messages to your nerves, telling them to relax—and a variety of muscle relaxants and sleep medications.

Insomnia

Defining insomnia isn’t complicated; it means you have difficulty falling or staying asleep. Conquering insomnia, however, isn’t quite so easy because it can be traced to a long list of medical or lifestyle causes. Insomnia is a widespread sleep disorder: the National Institutes of Health says 30 percent of American adults experience some sleep disruption on a regular basis.

If you’re not getting the sleep you need for your healthiest and most productive life, the experts at Central Maine Healthcare can help. Our board-certified pulmonologists specialize in diagnosing and treating insomnia, and will work with you to create a personal plan to help put your sleep problems to bed.

Understanding Insomnia

The symptoms of insomnia are obvious: you’re tired during the day, you’re irritable and your performance at work or school is suffering. What most people don’t realize is, there are two types of insomnia:

  • Acute insomnia sounds more severe, but the opposite is true; here it means “temporary,” caused by some life circumstance. You’re likely to get acute insomnia, for instance, the night before a big exam or job interview, or when you’ve had an argument with a friend. Acute insomnia resolves itself after a few days without any treatment.
  • Chronic insomnia is ongoing—meaning, it happens at least three times a week, for at least three months. It can be caused by a change in your environment (moving to a new house or a different city), working the night shift or split shifts, another illness or medications. It also can be linked to another medical or psychological disorder.

Your Lifestyle Can Affect Your Sleep

You’ve heard the saying, “you are what you eat.” Food and drink, more than any other factor, can keep you from occasionally getting a good night’s sleep:

  • Caffeine—no surprise there—can keep you awake. It’s a stimulant that stays active in your system for eight hours, so if you’re an all-day coffee drinker you should consider cutting yourself off after lunch.
  • Nicotine is another stimulant. If you smoke, you’re not resting as well as you might otherwise, even though you think smoking is relaxing you.
  • Alcohol can make you tired but can also disturb your sleep later, during the night.
  • A big meal close to bedtime can interrupt your sleep because heavy foods make it hard for your body to settle down and relax. Also, spicy food can cause heartburn, keeping you awake even longer.

Medical Causes of Insomnia

A large number of ongoing medical disorders can also cause you to lose sleep:

  • Nasal and sinus allergies or asthma
  • Lower back pain
  • Reflux or other gastro problems
  • Endocrine disorders
  • Arthritis pain
  • Depression
  • Other sleep disorders, such as restless leg syndrome
  • Chronic anxiety, such as a nightly feeling of being overwhelmed by family or work responsibilities.

Helping You Get the Sleep You Need

There’s currently no clear-cut test for diagnosing insomnia. But, by keeping a sleep log, answering targeted questions and a blood test to rule out issues such as thyroid disorders, you and your team at Central Maine can pinpoint the cause of your insomnia and find the right treatment. We may also recommend an overnight sleep study, offered at our full-service sleep center in Lewiston. Once we better understand the problem, your treatment plan may include one or a combination of:

  • Relaxation training:Breathing exercises, meditation and mindfulness training all can help immensely with your overall relaxation, helping you to sleep better at night.
  • Stimulus control:If you take your laptop to bed with you, pay bills in the bedroom or even watch TV until you go to bed, you’re stimulating your brain when you should be preparing it for rest. You can exercise stimulus control by following three simple rules: (a) don’t go to bed until you’re sleepy; (b) reserve the bedroom for two activities only—sleep and intimacy; and (c) if you’ve been lying in bed for 20 minutes and still can’t fall asleep, get up and do something else.
  • Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT): A therapist trained in CBT can teach you to eliminate unhealthy fears that keep you awake, or to change other thought patterns to help you rest easier. 
  • Over-the-counter or prescription medications: A mild sleeping medication might be necessary to get you in the habit of falling asleep on a regular schedule.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that can cause a sudden “sleep attack” during any type of activity or any time of day. It’s relatively rare: only one in 2,000 American adults have been diagnosed. But, it can severely limit your life – people with narcolepsy don’t dare drive, and holding down a job can be challenging, to say the least.

If you or someone in your family drops off to sleep without warning, it’s important to get tested for narcolepsy as soon as possible. The experts at Central Maine Healthcare specialize in diagnosing and treating this condition, helping you find peace of mind and the healthy, routine sleep habits you need.

Understanding Narcolepsy

When you have narcolepsy, it means your brain can’t control your sleep and wake cycles. The disorder usually begins when you’re young—between ages 10 and 25—but diagnosing it can take up to 10 years because so many other disorders show the same symptoms. In fact, it’s estimated that half of people with narcolepsy have not been diagnosed. Symptoms include:

  • Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS)—more than “ordinary” fatigue, people with EDS are tired all the time and when they get sleepy, they fall sound asleep, whether they’re driving a car, talking or even standing
  • Frightening nightmares, seeming like hallucinations
  • “Cataplexy,” a weakening of your muscles when you feel strong emotions of any kind, whether it’s laughter, surprise or anger. Your head will drop, your face will droop, jaws weaken and knees give out. You might even fall down.
  • Sleep disruption – you can fall asleep but it’s difficult to wake up.
  • Sleep paralysis — you can’t move or speak when you’re falling asleep or waking up. Sometimes you can’t breathe.

Getting You Back to Good Sleep

To diagnose narcolepsy or another sleep disorder, we may recommend a sleep study, available at our nationally accredited sleep center in Lewiston. During your visit, you may undergo two of the gold-standard tests:

  • PSG (polysomnography), an overnight exam that measures your brain waves, oxygen levels, heart rate, leg movements and eye movements; and
  • MSLT (multiple sleep latency test), which takes place the morning after the PSG and measures daytime sleepiness.

Based on those results, your Central Maine pulmonologist will work with you to create a personal treatment plan, which may include medication and/or lifestyle changes. The first drug treatment usually is a stimulant for the central nervous system, because it’s less addictive than other choices and causes fewer side effects.

If that type of stimulant isn’t effective, your provider may prescribe an amphetamine-like stimulant. These meds are less desirable because they not only can cause unhealthy side effects such as shakiness and heart rhythm fluctuations, they also are potentially easy to abuse.

Simple lifestyle adjustments can also help normalize your sleep patterns: taking short naps, getting on a regular sleep schedule, cutting alcohol and caffeine before bedtime, exercising, stopping smoking and relaxation exercises.

In addition, your provider will make you aware of safety precautions you need to take if you’re diagnosed with narcolepsy. You don’t want to be driving, either alone or with passengers, if your sleep/wake cycles aren’t completely under control.

Restless Leg Syndrome

It couldn’t be more aptly named: if you have Restless Leg Syndrome, it means your legs won’t stay still. Also called Willis-Ekbom Disease, restless leg affects nearly 10 percent of adults in America. It happens at any age, to both men and women, and the discomfort happens more frequently and lasts longer as you get older.

If you feel a strange, “jittery” sensation in your legs, especially in the evening, come see the sleep medicine specialists at Central Maine Healthcare. Our board-certified providers can diagnose the condition and recommend the right treatment to help your legs relax, so you can get some much-needed sleep.

Understanding Restless Legs

Restless leg won’t directly damage your health, but it’s extremely uncomfortable and stops you from getting good sleep (which is never healthy). Like any sleep disorder, the lack of sleep brings on daytime fatigue and sleepiness, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Because you’re tired, you may not be able concentrate, study or work well—all factors that contribute to depression and anxiety.

People with restless leg describe it, first, as an irresistible urge to move their lower limbs. They say it feels like an aching, throbbing, pulling, crawling, itching or creeping sensation, often with some pain. It begins in late afternoon or evening and is most severe at night. It varies from day to day, usually affecting both legs. It’s considered severe when you feel it more than twice a week and it affects your daily functioning. Moving around can relieve the restlessness, but it often returns.

Causes

We can’t be sure what causes restless leg, but we do know it has a genetic component. It’s also related to low iron in your brain, and low levels of dopamine, a brain chemical needed to produce smooth, purposeful muscle movements — the opposite of what your limbs do when you have restless leg syndrome.

Certain medications aggravate the condition, such as anti-nausea drugs, antipsychotic drugs, some antidepressants and select cold and allergy medicines. Alcohol, nicotine and caffeine can make it worse, so if you have restless leg, you may be able to temper it a bit by cutting back on those substances. Pregnant women are susceptible, as are people with nerve damage (neuropathy).

Helping You Get a Relaxing Sleep

Diagnosing restless leg syndrome isn’t a complex process; it’s one sleep disorder with unique symptoms that your provider will recognize. Your specialist at Central Maine will help you find the right treatment, which may involve lifestyle changes such as cutting alcohol and tobacco use, setting and sticking to a regular sleep pattern and doing moderate exercise, including aerobics and leg stretching.

Iron supplements might also if a blood test shows you’re iron-deficient. Your provider might want to try anti-seizure medications, which increasingly are the first line of defense in treating restless leg.

For non-drug therapies, massaging your legs can soothe and relax your muscles, reducing the discomfort of restless leg. If the idea of massaging appeals to you, ask your provider to look into new devices that wrap around the leg and vibrate, delivering relief to the muscles running down the back of your legs.

It couldn’t be more aptly named: if you have Restless Leg Syndrome, it means your legs won’t stay still. Also called Willis-Ekbom Disease, restless leg affects nearly 10 percent of adults in America. It happens at any age, to both men and women, and the discomfort happens more frequently and lasts longer as you get older.

If you feel a strange, “jittery” sensation in your legs, especially in the evening, come see the sleep medicine specialists at Central Maine Healthcare. Our board-certified providers can diagnose the condition and recommend the right treatment to help your legs relax, so you can get some much-needed sleep.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a serious disorder in which you stop breathing repeatedly during sleep. If your apnea is severe, you might wake up choking and gasping for breath several times a night, which can be scary. It also means the brain and the rest of the body may not be getting enough oxygen, which can lead to other serious health problems. That’s why it’s important to be seen as soon as possible if you suspect there’s an issue.

At Central Maine Healthcare, our specialists can help you take control of apnea once and for all. We offer overnight sleep studies close to home in Lewiston and a full range of treatment options, including CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machines, so you can get back to the restful night’s sleep you deserve.

Understanding Sleep Apnea

There are two main types of this sleep disorder:

  • Obstructive sleep apnea, where your throat muscles relax too much, and your airway literally can close, making it impossible for you to take a breath. You end up with low oxygen levels in your blood, and your organs end up not getting sufficient fuel to work properly.
  • Central sleep apnea, when your brain doesn’t send signals to the muscles that control your breathing.

Sleep apnea can affect anyone, but certain factors put you at higher risk:

  • Being overweight
  • Having a thicker-than-normal neck
  • Age
  • Family history
  • Smoking
  • Chronic nasal congestion
  • Being a male (men are two-three times more likely to get sleep apnea than women

Additional risk factors associated with the condition include congestive heart failure, taking narcotic pain meds and having suffered a stroke.

Symptoms

The list of sleep apnea symptoms is long, and may include one or a combination of:

  • Loud snoring
  • You’ve been told you stop breathing while you sleep
  • Morning headaches, often with a “pounding” sound in your head
  • Choking, snorting or gasping for air during the night
  • Dry mouth
  • You fall asleep but wake during the night
  • Daytime sleepiness
  • Difficulty focusing and paying attention
  • Irritability
  • Nightmares

Take Back Your Sleep – and Health

Sleep apnea affects more than your quality of life. It brings complications far beyond not feeling rested:

  • Daytime fatigue and inability to focus can make you feel moody and depressed. Eventually there’s an “emotional fallout” when you feel lousy so much of the time.
  • When your heart and other organs don’t get enough oxygen, the outcome can be high blood pressure and heart disease. Even worse, your heartbeat can become irregular, which can result in sudden death.
  • Untreated sleep apnea puts you at risk for type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
  • Sleep apnea can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
  • Your partner also can develop a range of disorders because your sleep apnea symptoms also stop them from getting good rest.

The good news: Sleep apnea can be effectively managed with the right diagnosis and treatment. At Central Maine Healthcare, we usually start with an overnight sleep study at our nationally accredited sleep center in Lewiston. During the study, our sleep specialists and technicians will monitor your heart, lung and brain activity; arm and leg movements; blood oxygen levels and breathing patterns. Depending on the results, you may be referred to one of our ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists to rule out a blockage in your nose or throat.

If your sleep apnea is mild, your provider may recommend lifestyle changes, such as losing weight or stopping smoking, to eliminate those possible causes.

Most sleep apnea, though, is treated with the use of a CPAP machine. The CPAP will force your airways open with air while you sleep, so you’ll no longer have an obstructed airway. You can choose to wear a small nose mask or, if you’re a “mouth breather,” a larger face mask. Your provider will adjust the air settings before you take the CPAP home, or might recommend an auto-adjusting BPAP machine instead.

Most of the time, CPAP is a highly effective option, though in rare cases, we may recommend surgery to remove tissue blocking your airway. We’ll work closely with you to the best treatment for your unique needs.

CMMC Specialty Pharmacy

More Than Just a Pharmacy

The goal of the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy is to help patients understand their chronic and complex diseases and the medication used to treat them.

Specialty pharmacies are not the same as retail pharmacies. Our specialty pharmacists help make sure the medication you take is safe and works for you. We offer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so we are always here to assist you with any questions you may have. We can also help you get assistance to pay for your medications if needed.

Our CMMC Specialty Pharmacy care team will teach you how to take, store and refill your medication. We can also teach you about any side effects you may have and screen for any drug interactions that could occur between your new medication and your usual medications.

We offer fast, free, home shipment or your medication can be picked up at our pharmacy which is located at 10 High Street, suite 104 in Lewiston.

As a patient of the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy, our priority is helping you live better and stay healthy. The care team in the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy is made up of clinical pharmacists, benefit coordinators, technicians and patient care coordinators trained in your medical condition and specialty medications. We are here for you 24 hours a day 7 days a week to answer your questions about your medication or condition.

Download a copy of the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy welcome packet.

What to Expect

We will work to assist you in getting your medication paid for through your insurance company and other patient assistance programs that may be available. Our reimbursement specialists are experts at completing financial paperwork and finding ways to help get you your medications.

On time Refills Plus Prescription Monitoring

Our pharmacy team will tell you when it is time for a refill, so you don’t miss any doses, and we will work with your provider to make sure you have the best response possible from your medicine.

Free Medication Delivery Plus Supplies

We can deliver all your medications and supplies needed for your therapy to your home free of charge. Our goal is to make sure you have your medicine in-hand quickly there are no gaps in your therapy. We want getting your medicine to be simple.

Providing Care for Specialized Disease States

  • Asthma & Allergy
  • Ankylosing Spondylitis
  • Atopic Dermatitis
  • Autoimmune Disorders
  • Cancer
    • Keytruda – 855-257-3932
    • Ibrance – 844-9-IBRANCE
    • Imbruvica – 877-877-3536
    • National Cancer Institute
    • American Cancer Society
    • Imfinzi – 844-ASK-A360
    • Opdivo – 855-OPDIVO-1
  • Crohn’s Disease
    • Entyvio – 855-ENTYVIO
    • Cimzia – 866-4-CIMZIA
    • Humira – 800-4-HUMIRA
    • Remicade – 888-ACCESS-1
    • Additional Resources:
      • Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America
      • Crohn’s Online
      • Crohn’s Forum
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • Dermatology
    • Cosentyx – 844-COSENTYX
    • Tremfya – 877-CAREPATH
    • Humira – 800-4-HUMIRA
    • Taltz – 844-TALTZ-NOW
    • Dupixent – 844-DUPIXENT
    • Additional Resources: 
      • National Psoriasis Foundation
      • Inspire.com
      •  National Eczema Association
  • Endocrine Disorders
  • Enzyme Deficiencies
  • Growth Hormone Deficiencies
  • Hemophilia
  • Hepatitis C
    • Epclusa – 844-4-EPCLUSA
    • Mavyret – 877-628-9738
    • Sovaldi – 855-7-MYPATH
    • Harvoni – 855-7-MYPATH
    • Vosevi – 833-4-VOSEVI
    • Zepatier – 877-888-4231
    • Additional Resources:
      • American Liver Foundation
      • Hepatitis Central
      • Hepatitis C Support Project
  • HIV-AIDS
    • Biktarvy – 800-226-2056
    • Descovy – 800-226-2056
    • Truvada – 800-226-2056
    • Odefsey – 800-226-2056
    • Triumeq – 844-588-3288
    • Tivicay – 844-588-3288
    • Additional Resources:
      • HIV.gov
      • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
      • National Institutes of Health – AIDSinfo
      • AIDS United
  • Infertility
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Avonex – 888-881-1918
    • Betaseron – 800-788-1467
    • Copaxone – 800-877-8100
    • Extavia – 866-EXTAVIA
    • Rebif – 877-447-3243
    • Gilenya – 800-GILENYA
    • Additional Resources:
      • Multiple Sclerosis Association of America
      • National Multiple Sclerosis Society
      • Multiple Sclerosis Foundation
  • Neurology
  • Solid Organ Transplant
  • Osteoporosis
    • Prolia – 800-772-6436
    • Forteo – 866-4-FORTEO
    • Additional Resources
      • National Osteoporosis Foundation
  • Psoriasis
  • Psoriatic Arthritis
    • Enbrel – 888-4ENBREL
    • Cosentyx – 844-COSENTYX
    • Humira – 800-4-HUMIRA
    • Otezla – 844-4-OTEZLA
    • Stelara – 877-STELAR
  • Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH)
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Actemra – 800-ACTEMRA
    • Cimzia – 866-4-CIMZIA
    • Enbrel – 888-4ENBREL
    • Humira – 800-4-HUMIRA
    • Orencia – 800-ORENCIA
    • Otezla – 844-4-OTEZLA
    • Remicade – 800-ACCESS-1
    • Simponi – 877-MY-SIMPONI
    • Stelara – 877-STELARA
    • Xeljanz – 855-4-XELJANZ
    • Additonal Resources
      • Arthritis Foundation
      • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV)
    • Synagis
    Additional Resources:
    • Centers for Disease Control
    • American Lung Association
  • Ulcerative Colitis
    • Entyvio – 855-ENTYVIO
    • Cimzia – 866-4-CIMZIA
    • Humira – 800-4-HUMIRA
    • Remicade – 888-ACCESS-1
    • Stelara – 877-STELARA
    • Additional Resources:
      • Mayo Clinic
      • Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America
  • Women’s Health
    • Makena
    • Lupron
    • Lupaneta
  • Other
    • Botox

Useful Links

  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention – List of Diseases and Conditions
  • National Institutes of Health – Health Information
  • Medline Plus
  • Safe Medication – Drug Information
  • National Council on Patient Information and Education
  • Consumer Med Safety

Financial Assistance Programs

  • Patient Assistance Network Foundation – 866-316-7263
  • HealthWell Foundation – 800-675-8416
  • Patient Advocate Foundation – 800-532-5274
  • Co-pay Relief – 866-512-3861

We Offer Support By:

  • Helping you recognize and manage side effects
  • Reminding you when it is time for a refill
  • Teaching you how to take your medication
  • Answering your questions about your medicine
  • Helping your provider make sure you have everything you need

Our Services

  • Personalized care
  • Regular follow-up
  • Benefits assistance
  • Free delivery and pick-up
  • 24-hour access to pharmacist to address any urgent patient concerns

To begin using the CMMC Specialty Pharmacy or to transfer your prescriptions, please contact us 207-786-1800.

Childbirth and Parenting Classes

We want to do more than just support you on your big day – we aim to offer the education you’ll need to feel empowered and ready for birth and parenting!

Central Maine Healthcare offers several classes for parents-to-be and their family members. Whether you’re a first-time parent or a seasoned parent, these classes will help you get ready for your birth and bringing home your baby.

Childbirth Education Classes

We offer childbirth education classes to ensure that our families feel confident and ready to face the wonderful challenges to come. Through discussion, PowerPoint presentations, DVD video clips, plus hands-on-activities, we explore a wide variety of childbirth topics.

Our classes cover pregnancy, labor, labor comfort techniques, cesarean birth, newborns, postpartum issues, and breastfeeding. We practice labor positions (which includes trying out physical therapy balls and a birthing stool), develop different breathing techniques for different parts of labor, and learn the vital importance of relaxation. Our goal is for expectant parents to learn about childbirth in a fun, comfortable, and respectful class environment.

The birth of your child can be a positive, powerful experience, one that you will carry with you always. Through our childbirth education classes, we hope to give you the tools necessary to have the best birth experience possible.

Kyle’s story

“I have two little girls at home, don’t let me die.” Those are the words Kyle Secor remembers saying to doctors at Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) just before he lost consciousness and began a long journey he never imagined taking.

Kyle was injured in October 2023, the victim of a shooting rampage that killed 18 people. His severe injuries would require multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation. Kyle spent six weeks in the hospital and endured 13 surgeries, during which time he and the hospital staff became close. When Kyle left to go home, CMMC staff lined the halls to wish him well. Kyle’s sister called it a “most glorious farewell.”

“It was emotional. Very, very emotional. Like, I mean, those people have been there for the six weeks I’ve been. And, I mean, I made a family,” Kyle said. “The nursing staff and the doctors have been absolutely amazing. I couldn’t be more thankful for what they’ve done.”“What a sight it was to see this brave patient leaving our hospital,” said Steve Littleson, Central Maine Healthcare president and chief executive officer. “He has been with us for six weeks, and in that time our doctors, nurses and other team members have formed a powerful bond with him. We wish him and his wonderful family all the best as he continues his recovery at home.”


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